Strathroy-Caradoc

Strathroy-Caradoc is a municipality located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is west of London.
Strathroy-Caradoc is a primarily rural municipality. Industries include turkey and chicken hatching and processing, corn, tobacco, automotive, and pharmaceutical. Some industrial products are manufactured in Strathroy, the township's largest locality and its commercial, cultural and industrial centre. Strathroy's hatcheries have seen it referred to as the turkey capital of Canada and even the world.
Settlements within Strathroy-Caradoc largely grew up around the Sydenham River and the southwestern Ontario railways. Three major railway lines pass through the municipality: the CN (Canadian National Railway) Chatham Subdivision (connecting Windsor and London, Ontario), the CP (Canadian Pacific Railway) Windsor Subdivision (also connecting Windsor and London), and the CN Strathroy Subdivision (connecting London and Sarnia, Ontario).
Municipally, Strathroy-Caradoc is within Middlesex County. At the federal and provincial levels of government it is represented by the riding of Lambton—Kent—Middlesex. It is part of the London census metropolitan area.
Communities
Strathroy-Caradoc's two largest communities are Strathroy and Mount Brydges. The township also contains the smaller communities of Cairngorm, Campbellvale, Caradoc, Christina, Falconbridge, Glen Oak, Longwood, Melbourne (part) and Muncey.
Strathroy
Strathroy is 35 kilometres west of the City of London, Ontario, and is the largest community in Middlesex County outside London. The community is situated next to Highway 402 between London and the border to Port Huron, Michigan, U.S. at Sarnia, Ontario. Strathroy's economy is diverse, and major industries include automotive manufacturing, agriculture and food processing. The township's administrative offices are located in Strathroy.
Mount Brydges
Mount Brydges has a small commercial "downtown" featuring mostly local businesses and shops. Local agriculture includes corn, tobacco, soybeans and ginseng. The soil composition of the region is largely sandy (a phenomenon referred to locally as the "Caradoc Sand Plains") as a result of deposits created on the bottom of the glacial Lake Whittlesey which covered the area approximately 13,000 years ago.
The village came into existence as a result of the construction of the western division of the Great Western Railroad from City of London, Ontario to Windsor, Ontario, at the point where it crossed the existing road from Delaware, Ontario to Strathroy. This crossing happened to be at the point of greatest elevation on this division, the railroad having just climbed out of the valley of the Thames River from London. The station was named for Charles John Brydges, the managing director of the Grand Trunk Railway from 1861 to 1874. The earlier name Carradoc was replaced in 1856.
History
Strathroy was first colonized in 1832 by John Stewart Buchanan, accompanied by the explorer Sir Michael Jacques, at a location on the Sydenham River with flow and fall sufficient to power a grist mill. A general store opened in the settlement in 1840. Strathroy was incorporated as a village in 1860 and became a town in 1872 under the motto "We Advance". Buchanan named the settlement after his hometown of Strathroy in Ireland, now a suburb of Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
In 1866, The Age newspaper was established to compete with the already-established Western Dispatch newspaper. The Western Dispatch was purchased by The Age in 1923, which later became The Age Dispatch. The newspaper is still published weekly.
From 1867 to 1945 the Mount Elgin Indian Residential School operated in Muncey.
Sir Arthur Currie, who would later become the commander of Canadian forces in Europe during World War I, was born here on December 5, 1875.
In the fall of 1876, Bixel Brewery opened in Strathroy, producing lager beer for a century before its closing. Other breweries in the town have included the "Western Steam Brewery", "Strathroy Brewing and Malting" and "West End Brewery".
In 1896, the Strathroy Furniture Company opened its doors, and was renowned for nearly a century for making residential furniture. On July 15, 1992, the company declared bankruptcy and a liquidation sale was held in October 1992.
On February 14, 1914, the first patients were admitted to what would become Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital. At the time, the hospital was municipally owned. The current building opened on June 23, 1962, as a two-story structure with 82 beds. The hospital was the location at which Native Canadian Dudley George succumbed to the gunshot wound he suffered at the Ipperwash Standoff at nearby Ipperwash Provincial Park on September 7, 1995.
On January 13, 1954, West Middlesex Memorial Arena opened in Strathroy. To commemorate the occasion, the NHL's Montreal Canadiens played an exhibition game at the arena, defeating the local Junior 'B' team the Strathroy Rockets 14–3 in front of 3,100 spectators.
In 2001, Strathroy merged with the former township of Caradoc to create the town of Strathroy-Caradoc.
On March 22, 2004, the town's 117-year-old train station was destroyed by a fire that took more than 35 firefighters to get under control. Adolescent boys were charged with starting the fire.
In 2005, Strathroy was connected to the Lake Huron Water Pipeline. This ended the town's existing reliance on groundwater and wells.
On August 10, 2016, an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant supporter from Strathroy, Aaron Driver, was killed in a taxi outside his home, after being shot by Royal Canadian Mounted Police and detonating one of two homemade bombs. The taxi driver was injured. Police suspected he intended to commit a suicide bombing in another public place.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Strathroy-Caradoc had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Climate
Education
Strathroy has two secondary schools that share basic facilities, Strathroy District Collegiate Institute and Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School. Each serves the town and its outlying area. Strathroy was ranked 161st out of 714 Ontario secondary schools in 2007/2008 by the Fraser Institute's Report on Ontario Secondary Schools. Holy Cross was ranked 339th out of 714 in the same report.
Media
Strathroy has two weekly newspapers, The Age Dispatch and the Middlesex Banner, and a radio station, 105.7 myFM (CJMI-FM), which provides local news and sports coverage. The region is otherwise served by media from London.
Events
Strathroy's largest annual event is the Strathroy Hometown Turkey Festival, also known as Turkeyfest, run in June. The town is home to the headquarters of Cuddy Farms, the world's top turkey-hatching company. In July 2020, Strathroy saw its first Pride flag raising. Due to COVID-19, events were held virtually. In 2021, Strathroy Pride was present at the downtown Market throughout June and July, and was able to invite folks to see the flag raising in person.
Sports
Strathroy is home to the Strathroy Rockets of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Strathroy Royals baseball team. Mount Brydges is home to the Mount Brydges Bulldogs of the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League.
The Strathroy Rockets won the Championship of the Western Ontario Hockey League in its final season in 2007.
Notable people
Easton Cowan, 1st round pick 2023 NHL Entry Draft
Nathan Beaulieu, defenceman for the Winnipeg Jets and 2011 Memorial Cup Champion
Harry H. Bentley, politician
Robert Brett, politician, physician
Brian Campbell, Chicago Blackhawks, NHL All-Star defenceman and 2010 Stanley Cup Champion.
William W. Chalmers
Lawson Crouse, ice hockey player
Arthur Currie, commander of the Canadian Corps during the First World War.
Chris Daw, Mutli attending Paralympic athlete and 2006 wheelchair curling Gold medalist
Darryl Edestrand, NHL hockey player
Francis Henry Keefer, Canadian lawyer and politician
Rapley Holmes (1868 – 1928) - Stage and screen actor
Penn Kemp (b.1944), poet
Alexander Knox (1907–1995), actor and author
William Bethune Lindsay, chief engineer of the Canadian Corps in the First World War.
The Hon. Charles Herbert Mackintosh (1843–1931), town councillor, Strathroy, owner of the Strathroy Dispatch, later mayor of Ottawa, owner of the Ottawa Citizen, Member of Parliament, and lieutenant-governor (1893–1898) of the old Northwest Territories
John Burton Martyn, politician
Andy McDonald, retired NHL All-Star forward and 2007 Stanley Cup Champion
Steve McKichan, former NHL player, and former goalie coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Tara McLeod, guitarist for Ontario-based metal band Kittie
George Orton, Canada's first Olympic champion, born in Strathroy in 1873. Won a gold medal for the Canada in the steeplechase event at the 1900 Olympics
Cole Pearn, former NASCAR Cup Series crew chief, won championship in 2017 with Martin Truex Jr.
Warren Rychel, NHL hockey player
Seth, cartoonist and author of It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken that is set in Strathroy and Southern Ontario.
James T. Shotwell
Craig Small, Canadian visual artist, director and animator
Pat Stapleton, retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League and the World Hockey Association
Mike Stapleton, retired ice hockey forward who played 697 games for 8 NHL teams, and won a silver medal at the 1986 World Junior Championships.
Janaya Stephens, film actress
Kimberly Tuck, curler
Don Van Massenhoven, NHL official
Anna May Waters (1903–1987), Canadian nurse
See also
List of townships in Ontario
Notes
References
External links
Lower-tier municipalities in Ontario